Here’s my two cents on what scared me or gave me nightmares: Kolchak: The NIght Stalker Episode 6 “Firefall“. The conductor, or should I say his doppelganger, tried to annoy Kolchak by repeatedly knocking against an open window of a church. It was that smirk and the insane look on his face with the knocking that bothered me as a little boy. I had nightmares about that doppelganger for a few days. Also from the 70s was that smiling cow on every bottle of Elmer’s Glue. For some reason, I kept superimposing Mr. Clean’s face with the cow and the two together had this I’m-going-to-get-you look. Weird and scary.

Lastly, any of the Bigfoot documentaries of the 70s. Chills down my spine all the time. It was hard to get any sleep. Oh yeah, I almost forgot: the neighborhood pedophile who always looked at me and my brother whenever we were out playing or going to the store. He was thin and tall like Norman Bates with sunken eyes and super creepy. I later discovered he had a record for molesting a neighborhood boy.

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Those Bigfoot “documentaries” scared the crap out of me when I was a little kid. I once had to watch one because it was a double feature with Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory, and all the other kids wanted to stay and see it. I kept my eyes shut for most of it.

I understand your fear of the Elsie/Mr. Clean mutation. I did a similar thing with the face of Jack Barry, who created and hosted the game show Joker’s Wild, and the devil face that would appear on the slots when contestants were unlucky. Barry already looked kind of Mephistophelean, so he blended well with the animated face of the devil.

Oh god, I remember sitting at my aunt’s kitchen table (I think I was in kindergarten at the time) and taking sudden notice of that Elmer’s Glue cow and its creepy anthropomorphic face. I decided then and there if I ever met that thing in real life I’d be a goner. I haven’t thought of that in years. I love this site!